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There are two ways to identify a translation in a Bible app: in the text or in the works-cited-list entry.

Translation Identified in the Text

Suppose that you wish to illustrate how translations of the Bible differ by comparing the recent New Living Translation with the traditional King James Version. One way to identify the translations is to mention them in your prose and then cite the Bible app in your works-cited-list entry as the anthology containing the translations:

For Matthew 7.7, the King James Version reads, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: . . . ,” whereas the New Living Translation reads, “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you” (Bible Gateway).

Work Cited

Bible Gateway. Version 42, Bible Gateway / Zondervan, 2016.

Translation Identified in Works-Cited-List Entry

If, however, you quote from only one translation in an edition of the Bible with more than one translation, you could list the translation in your works-cited-list entry as a work in an anthology. Follow the MLA format template. List “The Bible” as the title of the work and the name of the translation as the version. In a second container, list the name of the Bible app, the version number—if given—and the publication information for the app:

Matthew 7.7 tells us, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Bible).

No. You do not need to provide a separate works-cited-list entry for each hymn, chapter, or surah cited if there are several and they all come from the same general Web site, unless readers cannot easily find their way from that central place.

Let’s say you are citing Genesis and Psalms from the Web site King James Bible Online. As the MLA Handbook notes, when you cite scripture, indicate at first instance, in either your prose or a parenthetical citation, the first element of the works-cited-list entry for the source. Then indicate the division of the Bible from which you borrowed the material (122–23).

In the example below, King James Bible Online is listed after the first quotation because the title of the edition is the first element of the works-cited-list entry. “Gen. 1.22″ indicates that the quotation comes from Genesis, chapter 1, verse 22. Since the second quotation is also from Genesis, the citation lists only chapter and verse numbers—”28.3.” The third quotation is from the book of Psalms, so the citation is “Ps. 128.3.”

Many passages from the Bible encourage human reproduction, from “Be fruitful, and multiply” (King JamesBible Online, Gen. 1.22) and “And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful” (28.3) to “Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house” (Ps. 128.3).

Work Cited

King James Bible Online, www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/.

Work Cited

Create a works-cited-list entry for scriptural writings as you would for any other source: follow the MLA format template. In general, begin with the title. The title should be italicized because you are referring to a published edition. (The published title might be, for example, The New Jerusalem Bible, or simply The Bible.) If the source indicates that there is an editor or translator, list this information as an “other” contributor (see pp. 37–38 of the MLA Handbook for a definition of this element). Then provide the publisher and the date of publication.

The New Jerusalem Bible. General editor, Henry Wansbrough, Doubleday, 1985.

If the source carries a notation indicating that it is a version of a work released in more than one form, identify the version in your entry.

The Bible. Authorized King James Version, Oxford UP, 1998.

In the body of your text, general references to scriptural works like the Bible, Talmud, and Koran should not be italicized unless you refer to a specific published edition.

The first part of the Christian Bible is known as the Old Testament.

The 1985 New Jerusalem Bible contains maps and a theological glossary.

If you are citing a chapter of a book from a novel or monograph, create an entry for the book as a whole and list the book’s DOI in the “Location” slot, since in MLA style, chapters from these types of works are not cited individually.

If you wish to include a DOI for a chapter in an anthology, include it in the “Location” slot:

If the chapter has page numbers, include them in the same slot, separated from the DOI by a comma, following the general principle that commas separate more than one piece of information for the same element (MLA Handbook, sec. 2.6).

No. If you are citing a chapter of a book from a novel or monograph, create an entry for the book as a whole and list the book’s URL or DOI in the “Location” slot, since in MLA style, chapters from these types of works are not cited individually:

If you are citing the anthology, create an entry for it, and list its URL or DOI:

Killeen, Kevin, et al. The Oxford Handbook of the Bible in Early Modern England, c.1530-1700. Oxford UP, Nov. 2015, doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199686971.001.0001.

A DOI is preferable, but if a URL is the only location available, provide it instead.

If you cite a chapter with a URL or DOI that leads your reader to a preview of the chapter and you wish to let your reader know that the entire text of the book can be accessed through a URL or a different DOI, provide this information in a note at the first mention of the source in your work.